Candid Confessions of the Heart

Month: March 2015

Over the years watching the show ‘How I Met Your Mother’ has been my guilty pleasure. Coming from the makers of F.R.I.E.N.D.S, this show too somehow managed to touch many viewers hearts as well. And before we knew it we too were on a quest to find out who was the mother of Ted’s adorable children.

Like ‘Friends’ ‘HIMYM’ too traces the journey of a group of friends. And while watching the up’s and down’s in their life, it made me more capable to deal with a lot of stuff on my own. So much so, that I ended up learning a lot from it. Here are a compilation of eight things that left a mark on me:

1. Whatever may be the situation you can never go wrong with one thing at least. All you need to suit up and face the challenges like a man. And let’s face it Barney Stinson’s suit made him stand out of the crowd.

2. You need not compromise in love and jump the gun for just about anyone. Sit patiently and wait for the right one to make all the effort. Isn’t this what Ted did and see how things turned out for him?

3. Even though you cannot predict what the future has in store for you but this doesn’t mean you should go back to the past just for the sheer comfort of the situation. Robin knew what she was saying and try and understand what she meant.

4. The good, the bad and the ugly all make more sense once you have a partner in crime. Just like Barney Stinson did at one point of time. Life is more beautiful when you have someone to share it with.

5. And when everything is going out of sorts the right thing to do is to take time off and perhaps try playing a game. I suggest laser tag!! We all know that Barney Stinson did love the game, it’s never too late to try it out.

6. Barney Stinson may not know much about relationships but believe me this guy made the most sense some situation. Haven’t you felt what Barney is trying to say in this picture? Don’t you know the feeling! It’s okay to vent out what you feel sometimes.

7. Every once in a while an awesome thing to do is to ease off the tension and dance your ass off! Believe you me, it actually works like magic. So put on your dancing shoes.

8.It’s basic human nature to crave for something that cannot be yours. But then, when it comes to life not everything can be so easy.

#Selfie became one of the most searched and talked about word last year. So much so that it was even added to the Oxford dictionary. Taking selfies has now sort of become the latest International obsession. Whether you accept it or not, I am sure that the selfie bug would have bitten too and every now and then you too would be posing for the perfect selfie.

But have you ever wondered what it takes to get that perfect selfie shot? Because if you’re doing it, you might as well do it right!! So while taking your selfie next time round, keep the following tips in mind. And be assured that you will get the perfect shot.

1. Perfect lighting
Lighting is everything. Make sure you are at a spot that has adequate lighting. Once you have the lighting in check more than half of your job is done as bad lighting can spoil even the best of pictures.

2. Dab up the makeup
Yes, even the men can do with a little touch up every now and then!! As there is no harm in looking good even if you have to use a concealer for it. Shampoo, condition and pose. Basically put your best foot forward.

3. Experiment with angles
Don’t be afraid of trying various angles while taking selifes. And try and experiment with every new shot. As angles make a huge difference to every picture. You could even stand in front of the mirror to practice your angles.

4. App obsession
We all know that there are a number of cool apps available in the market that can help you capture yourself perfectly. All you need to do is to click a selfie and you can use these to add variations to your shot in innumerable ways.

5. Pick the right background
Having a beautiful background automatically adds great value to your picture so make you’re your background is good and clear. This will only amp up the awesomeness meter and give your selfie a never seen before look.

6. Think out of the box
Try and be as creative as you can with each selfie. From anger to love use your smartphone to capture all your emotions with panache. Take multiple shots. Find your cute expression and make it work.

7. Showoff your best side
Find out the various angle from which you look your very best and capture that! Of what I have seen many people look great when they hold the phone up and angle their face upwards. This makes the face and body look slimmer.

8. Be sensible
Learn to manage your picture setting so that strangers are not ogling at your masterpieces. Don’t let your online albums be open for everyone’s view. And most importantly know what’s your limit and don’t push the envelope too far.

9. Practice makes perfect
Don’t expect that you will get the perfect selfie in your first try itself. You need a couple of tries to get that ideal shot. You could even crop up all your selfies and make a collage out of them.

10. Have fun and say cheese
Let’s face it no one other than you will have the patience to pose and take pictures. So make the most of it. Also a smile can brighten up a picture instantly. Go ahead and flash those pearly whites and add an instant lift to the capture. Now that you are armed with these many tips to get that perfect selfie! Get clicking!!!

Amidst all the congratulatory Whatsapp messages and Facebook statuses for Women’s Day take a minute to think, what are WE really celebrating here? By ‘we’ I refer to the women in our country who I feel have NOTHING to celebrate this year.

Rather as a country we should collectively bow down our heads in SHAME! Just marking a day for it isn’t enough. I am tired of living in a country where women are treated as the weaker sex not by sheer virtue of our size but by the years and years of indoctrination!

When will it be okay for me to do as I please, to wear what I want, to go where I want and NOT be worried about all the lecherous eyes on me? Only when all this happens will I feel the need to happily celebrate this day again. Until then I don’t see the need for it.

I am sick and tired of being treated differently just because my gender. While the west has come up with the #HeForShe campaign what is India doing as a country on this pressing matter? Banning movies, fighting over whether a documentary should be shown or not, banning a certain food item and before you know it, THEY MIGHT AS WELL BAN WOMEN AS WELL.

To the fellow women of this country, watching the Nirbhaya documentary made my blood boil. It made me sit up and wonder as to why hasn’t anything changed still. Why is that a rape victim has to live with the stigma all her life and the men who has done this to her are guilt free? It’s equally appalling to see his reasoning in the video and that of the defending lawyer who quite frankly shouldn’t be allowed to practice at all.

It’s NOT the girl’s fault ever, then why treat her like this? I request all the women of the country to be the change they want to see. To speak up and take a stand and not be okay with the secondary status.

And to the men, NO, I am not asking the men of the country to become knight and shining armours rather I am just them to become responsible fathers, brothers, husbands and sons to the women of the country. This is not only the women’s fight it is also your fight. For men of quality always respect women’s equality. Cause in the end always remember, it was a women who brought you into this world so you have no right to disrespect her in any way.

The need for Marco Polo and Columbus to discover and travel the world stems from the love of wonder. Wanderlust as they called is an actually phenomena. Come to think of it nomads were also travellers who moved constantly from one place to another in search of the next best place. Aren’t we travellers in this world, some more than others making our paths in what we call life?

My mother often calls my love for travelling as the restless gene syndrome and frankly I quite agree with her on it. For someone who is bitten by the traveling bug you are hooked for life. From time immemorial Earth has been inhabited by two kinds of people: settlers and travelers. Here are some reasons why I feel some people are just born to travel the world.

1. Exploration
The seed for exploration quite frankly helped the world become what it is today. Imagine if the Portuguese explorer, Ferdinand Magellan had listened to what the great thinkers and philosophers of 16th century had said and didn’t decide to find out on his own what the world would be! If it weren’t for him people would still believe that the world was flat and traveling beyond a certain point would make you fall off into the great abyss. Even today I believe that the people who travel are the explorers.

2. To seek greater knowledge
If you take the time out, you will find out that there have been many people throughout history who had the spirit of adventure and decided to explore the unknown. Their thirst for knowledge lead them to discover new things and places. In some cases, they risked their lives to make their contributions recognized by the world.

3. See the unexpected
The explorers you’re grown up reading about were unlike normal people and this is not just because of the distances they managed to travel but surely because of the courage and intelligence that helped them to travel incredible distances and survive and discover the unknown.

4. For adventure
Our humdrum life gets boring after a while and more often than not it seems like you are stuck in a rut. The need for adventure is an intrinsic part of some people’s life. And what better way to satiate this need than by travelling. After all who will fondly recall a trip to office? Instead a sky-diving trip in Dubai or snorkelling in Maldives you get a feel for what being an active human being is like (again).

5. Because they don’t know better
Even though the ancient scholar Eratosthenes had managed to correctly calculate the circumference of world nearly about 1800 years ago, he couldn’t really prove it. If only Eratosthenes knew better. So why sit in once place why not travel and get answers to questions that have plagued you for a long time.

6. Life for them is on the go
Have you ever wondered why some people like to travel more than others? Scientists say that it is cause of their gene pool which leads them to travel and exploration. For them life isn’t in one place alone, life lies in the adventure of the conquest. And that is exactly how humans populated the entire Earth. Believe it or not, there is a primeval force inside some of us that pushes us to do so.

7. Learn who they are
Not everyone knows all the answers. They say everyone born is born to serve a purpose and until you find, it per say your life is not fruitful. So the logically assumption is that some people actually came into this world to travel. Travelling will help you to become a well-rounded human being. It will throw challenges and opportunities on your face and let’s you discover who you are in a way that only the road brings.

8. Perspective and memories
Meeting new people and learning from exotic cultures will teach you that the way you look at the world is not the way everybody does it. That you could in fact be dead wrong about everything till date. Travelling will give you a new perspective in life. And while you do so you will make memories on these mini adventures and they will help prove to yourself that you can and this sense of accomplishment will change your life like never before.

9. Meet new people
Everyone you meet has their own story, take timeout and find out what it is. New places, new stories, new cultures all of this is what your soul craves for. For there is a world that you haven’t seen and discovered yet, but it is definitely calling onto you.

10. Just for the hell of it
Last but not the least if you still don’t get why some people are born to travel then let me just say, they do so, because you can….

If you haven’t watched this show, then believe you me you have no idea what exactly are you missing. Little did the makers of the show know that even after more than a decade of F.R.I.E.N.D.S being off air, audience across the globe are still hooked to the most iconic television series of all time.

The show basically traces the journey of a group of six friends over various seasons and see how they grow with the change in time. Personally I think F.R.I.E.N.D.S as a show managed to teach us so much about relationship even without trying to. For those who are still clueless read on to find out how the show sums up every relationship you have ever had in a series of quotes from the show.

1. We have all been in Chandler’s place; needy and desperate for attention from that “special someone”. But come to think of it, don’t we all want the same thing…LOVE! So next time you feel down and out read this and you’ll know that you are not the only one who feels like this.

2. Has there been a time in your life when you have wanted someone to pick you so bad? I know finding Mr/Miss Right is a tough task but this doesn’t necessarily mean you have to become extremely needy. Hold your head high!!

3. You’ll all agree with Rachel on this, relationships are a tricky game you see. But what’s wrong in making the first move? What’s wrong in letting him/her know that you like them? Try it, the results will surprise you for sure.

4. Imagine if you actually speak up and you might just have what Ross and Rachel found! You have no idea what you are missing out on. Man up and speak up without wasting any more time.

5. In case it doesn’t work out don’t be as clueless as Joey. There will be more relationships, you will find the right person. Until then keep looking and don’t lose hope! And most importantly rejection isn’t the end of the road there is a reason why some relationships don’t work out! Accept it!

6. Going crazy and questioning all your decisions isn’t the next step! Just because one relationship didn’t work out doesn’t mean the rest won’t. Breathe in and out and let the fresh air put some sense into your head and kick out all the funny ideas like Rachel has below.

7. While some will move on their will still be a few who will keep on holding onto the memories like Ross does. It may seem like the end of the world but trust me when I say, it does get better. If it’s meant to be it will happen, just give it time.

8. Accepting rejection is okay but don’t go ballistic like Phoebe. Not all relationships suck. There is still hope and someone is still waiting for you. Becoming bitter will just make things difficult for you!

9. It’s easier said than done but once you realise it does become better, EVENTUALLY. I promise…

10. Learn from Rachel and live by this line and you’ll never be miserable again.

Love makes the world go round and the logical next step to it is to make it official and that is where weddings come into play. From the word go weddings are like a never ending party and as a nation we are obsessed with weddings.

From months and months of planning to band, baja and barat. Here are reasons why Indian weddings are undoubtedly the best in the world. And for those of you who still are new to the great Indian wedding tamasha read on and by the end of it you might just fall in love with Indian weddings too.1. Family get to together
Indian weddings are a much needed excuse to celebrate and make merry. Relatives pour in from all sides; the ones you didn’t see in ages, to the ones who you thought are dead to the ones you didn’t know even existed. Apart from the friends you invite it’s the relatives that actually make the wedding what it is.

2. Everyone is high on traditions and ceremonies
Indian wedding has heavy on ceremonies. And while most of us are clueless it’s good to visit our roots every once in a while. What if the excuse to do so is the wedding! We may be very forward in every aspect of life but when it comes to weddings everyone loves to do it the traditional way.

3. Glamour and glitz
All said and done everyone wants to ramp it up when it comes to weddings. People buy clothes for each wedding function and putting your best foot forward sort of becomes an obsession. It’s like the Indian family version of a fashion week.

4. Ample dose of healthy flirting
Now with so many guests in one place and that too of opposite gender the logical next step to the revelry is flirting. Men and women particularly in a wedding tend to be high on happiness and since they are looking their best they tend to make the most of the situation.

5. Fixing up
The only thing we as Indians love to do other than attending weddings is to fix up new ones. The annual time spent on fixing arrange marriages in the country is something that will shock you to the bits. Relatives and friends love to play matchmakers; in case you are single I suggest you get use to this asap!

6. Food, food and more food
Make way for the chief guest of the entire event! The amount of money people spend on food during an Indian wedding is just preposterous. And trust me when I say the only thing people talk about even after attending the wedding is over is only the food.

7. Dance till you drop
Thanks to the Bollywood dancing is considered to be one of the ways we express happiness. We love dancing so much that we have an entire day devoted to it aka the sangeet ceremony. Basically everyone is on the dance floor when the time comes and you will surprised to see how your uncles and aunties shake it up to the tunes of Honey Singh and Baby Doll alike.

8. Gifts
We may be stingy but when it comes to weddings, gifting becomes a serious business. People go the length of figuring out how much should we give and this usually depends upon ‘the closeness to the family+ value of card +how many people are going to attend the wedding’. Basically Indian weddings are official the season of giving.9. Hero & heroine for the day
There is something for everyone at the wedding so why leave out the bride and groom. It’s their day and with all the pampering and attention they are made to feel nothing less than film stars.

10. Memories
The most important reason why weddings are special is because what better place to be happy high than with all the people that matter and making lovely memories for life and getting clicked.